Boot frequently stuck on Asus ZenBook Pro 14 UX480 & Ubuntu 19.10

[Daniel]

General System Information:

I have an »Asus ZenBook Pro 14 UX480« notebook and installed »Ubuntu 19.10«. With LVM/LUKS encryption. No dual boot.

What I expected to happen:

The boot process should start, asking for LVM/LUKS password, show the Ubuntu splash screen and proceed with loading Ubuntu.

What happened instead

The boot process will only work occasionally and is frequently stuck and wont show the password input field or anything else.

When the boot process is stuck I shut down manually and boot again I will see the Grub Boot Selection. When I edit the boot option »Ubuntu« I need to remove "quiet splash" (both options). Then boot process continues without a GUI and eventually the password question will be asked. Everything is running normal from here.

However in 1 out of 5 cases removing "quiet splash" wont change anything either and the boot process is stuck again.

Additional information

I also tried installing Ubuntu 18.04 and 19.04 before. Both boot consistently when I replace "quiet" (this one option) with "acpi=off". This however caused a series of other problems, and therefore I switched to Ubuntu 19.10.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 19.10
Package: linux-image-5.3.0-19-generic 5.3.0-19.20
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.3.0-19.20-generic 5.3.1
Uname: Linux 5.3.0-19-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_modeset nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu8
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: dan 1767 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC1: dan 1767 F.... pulseaudio
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Wed Oct 23 10:01:49 2019
InstallationDate: Installed on 2019-10-17 (5 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 19.10 "Eoan Ermine" - Release amd64 (20191017)
Lsusb:
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 003: ID 13d3:56cb IMC Networks USB2.0 HD IR UVC WebCam
 Bus 001 Device 004: ID 8087:0aaa Intel Corp.
 Bus 001 Device 002: ID 062a:4101 MosArt Semiconductor Corp. Wireless Keyboard/Mouse
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
MachineType: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. ZenBook Pro 14 UX450FDX_UX480FD
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm-256color
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcFB: 0 i915drmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-5.3.0-19-generic root=/dev/mapper/vgubuntu-root ro
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-5.3.0-19-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-5.3.0-19-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.183
SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 10/09/2018
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: UX450FDX.301
dmi.board.asset.tag: ATN12345678901234567
dmi.board.name: UX450FDX
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
dmi.board.version: 1.0
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Tag
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
dmi.chassis.version: 1.0
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrUX450FDX.301:bd10/09/2018:svnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:pnZenBookPro14UX450FDX_UX480FD:pvr1.0:rvnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:rnUX450FDX:rvr1.0:cvnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:ct10:cvr1.0:
dmi.product.family: ZenBook Pro
dmi.product.name: ZenBook Pro 14 UX450FDX_UX480FD
dmi.product.version: 1.0
dmi.sys.vendor: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.

[Ubuntu Kernel Bot (ubuntu-kernel-bot)]

This change was made by a bot.

[Daniel (hurley42)]

As this was suggested on another place I upgraded the BIOS of the notebook manually. After this upgrade the boot process takes a bit longer but the bug described above did not happen again (ca. 30 boots up to now).

Preinstalled BIOS version: 301 (10/09/2018)
New BIOS version: 307 (07/05/2019)

The latest BIOS file is available at: https://www.asus.com/sg/Laptops/ASUS-ZenBook-Pro-14-UX480FD/HelpDesk_BIOS/

Manual how to upgrade the BIOS on a ASUS: https://www.asus.com/en/support/FAQ/1008859/

(Download the ZIP file, extract onto an empty USB stick, boot into BIOS configuration menue, select »Advanced« then »ASUS EZ Flash Utillity«, select the given file on the USB drive, start the upgrade, let the update reboot your system -> Important: All boot settings will be gone, disable »Fast Boot« & »Secure Boot« and switch from »RAID« drivers to AHCI drivers again)